Red Ties
by Nieddu
Summary: For some reason or another, both are stupid... stupid enough to get into this sticky situation.


_Chapter I: Selfish nature_

* * *

He knew what had happened just now. He, Marshall Lee, the king of vampires, had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest. Even as the monster struck him, he was conscious of the other being behind him, looking at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

It was as if everything happened in slow motion. The sickening, yet amazingly delightful odor of his own blood invaded his nostrils, filling him and engulfing him as the crimson liquid oozed from his wounds and in the next moment, he laid on the grass, clutching his wounded abdomen with tremulous breaths.

The 1,000 year old vampire had only dreamed about his death, but now, as all grew hazy and unrealistic, he had to admit that he wouldn't have known that it would have happened in these types of circumstances. He wasn't creative enough to imagine himself jumping imprudently into a battle to serve a _human_ as a shield because the silly girl hadn't been smart enough to bring one along into the Dark Forest with her- no doubt because of her blinding arrogance/self-confidence.

What were the odds that we was near there and happened to see the scene? Even gasping, Marshall had enough energy to chuckle. Just what were the odds of that happening?

"Marshall, you lumping idiot! Why did you do that, moron?! I had everything under control!"

That made him chuckle even more, the sound cutting itself off as he coughed a handful of blood.

_Sure, Fi. Whatever you say._

Marshall did not know who to guffaw at- himself for so readily jumping into the claws of danger or at Fionna in her desperate attempts at reviving him when he was obviously a hopeless case. FYI, Fi, this was what happened after you got the guts and lack of brains to defy a troll that had twice as muscular mass as him in his demonic-vampire form. How Gumwad had been so foolish to believe that Fionna could handle such monstrosity when he obviously couldn't was really hilarious.

Hilarious being completely heart-breaking.

As Fionna called for him, something in the background took hold of his attention. Apparently Cake had wrapped the troll pretty damn good, just enough for the beast to stumble backwards onto the edge of the cliff and successfully throwing himself out of solid ground. The vampire was pretty sure that Fionna could do much more for her feline friend clinging at the edge of the cliff instead of dampening even more than he was.

He reached out and feebly cupped her face to make her gaze at him.

"Ca-Cake… Fall…" He managed to rasp out, black eyes squinting to look at his blonde pal in her misery. "He-Help…"

And with that his energy force went out and his hand fell onto the ground with a dull thud.

* * *

-;-

* * *

The way back to Candy Kingdom was not even near as idle as the departure. There was no time to waste and neither of the sisters planned on it, Cake allowing Fionna to climb up her back with Marshall Lee in her hold in a world time record. The quantity of blood the vampire had lost _alarmed _both of them, but what put them more on edge was that where his heart was supposed to be, there was a hole where the beastly claws had pierced repeatedly. Still as he was, not even Fionna, who had him on her lap, knew if this body she clenched had life inside- whatever life the undead individual had left under normal circumstances, anyway. She couldn't distinguish if this was a corpse… And that was the worst part.

"Hurry up, Cake!" Fionna sobbed, her heart thumping like crazy because of the panic. "He might be still alive!"

"I am going the fastest I can, honey!"

And indeed the cat was. In a matter of two minutes the adventuress gazed upon the beauty of the Candy Kingdom again, the pinkness overflowing as always, giving off the idealized picture of safety. Safety. That's where they had to go! Gumball would most likely solve everything! Fionna hoped that the prince and his equipment inside his laboratory would be enough to reanimate and medically treat the King Vampire. Putting aside their irrelevant rancorous rivalry between the two, Gumball would never let another fellow ruler die in his hands, that's for sure, or so Fionna had convinced herself as she struggled to keep herself and Marshall on top of her sister.

The cat's limbs stretched and elongated in the fast pace, not even stopping when they broke into the land of caramel.

"Excuse me! Out of the way! This is an emergency!" Cake howled trying to avoid squishing the kingdom's population as they made haste to the castle.

"Marshall! We are almost there! Hold on!" Fionna fumbled, the comment directed to the boy resting in her hands, but more to calm herself with the observation. She had somehow managed to control herself and was once more focused on their objective- reaching the clinical aid the vampire needed.

"Stop!" One of the guards at the castle's door ordered, raising the weapon at hand. He did not seem threatening, though, quivering as a jelly as they slid to a stop just in front of him.

Fionna's eyebrows might had united with each other if she had frowned even more, "We need to see Gumball now! It's an emergency!"

"You may not see the prince! You have to explain the ruckus the two of you just made, Fionna, the human!" The guard denied her petition, now with a more solid composure as he took them in their disheveled forms. Had the guard not had been made by gum and been extremely short, they might had vacillated just a bit. But this guard did not meet the conditions and they certainly weren't going to wait for him to receive back-up.

Fionna bit her lip nervously, "Cake..."

"Hold on, you two," Cake muttered before she trespassed the castle's entrance by snaking her way up the wall. The human girl clutched her fur even before she had spoke, a determined look melting into her features. The _'I'll explain later'_ echoed in the recesses of her mind.

The guard's indignant yells went unheard as they bypassed the castle staff to get into the castle, door flying open when Fionna jumped to kick it. The gasps and tremor outside was more palpable now that the servants were on the move, probably startled by the aggressive display of their two usual heroes. But none of that was important, right? Especially since Gumball was just there, within their reach.

The prince let go of everything he had in hand, his stare being the most astonished one they had ever received in their life as the objects banged against the castle's floor.

Gaping like a fish out of the water, the prince just observed them from afar as the adventuress and her cat sister huffed in effort, sweat sliding down the human's forehead and the cat's limp tongue hanging out of her mouth as Gumball had to double-take.

"Fio-Fionna?" The prince managed to whisper.

"You've got…" She panted, dragging her friend's body closer in her arms, "to help… him…"

"Who-?" Gumball cut himself off short as he noticed the fourth person in the room with them and the _state_ that person/royal was in. That's when Gumball fully understood the severity of the situation.

"Follow me," He instructed hastily, waving towards the nearest door, facial features growing solemn.

* * *

-;-

* * *

"So that's what happened," Gumball sighed with his palm covering mournfully. His posture was slouched over as he processed the information the adventuress had disclosed to him. Guilt was eating him in the inside, the responsibility of what happened weighing heavily in his shoulders. He took everything in: the fact that the troll had resulted to be a gigantic monster when he was supposed to have been as tall as the blonde girl, the fact that he had misinformed his friend about the beast's intelligence and capabilities, such as super speed, its ability to adapt to the opponent with fluid easiness and do not forget that thick and nearly-impenetrable armor on its possession on the monster's back. That had been what had officially screwed them over.

In short, he, Bubba, prince of the Candy Kingdom, had nearly sent them to their deaths- they had been looking for a little troublemaker and they had undoubtedly paid the price. A quite high one, despite the Vampire King's fortunate intervention in the matter because he was apparently nearby when the monster had taken both adventurers by surprise and pounced on them.

Just what type of prince was he? Making this kind of mistake…

What a mess…

Fionna nodded, not really in the mood to say anything from her resting bed. She had no further damage than a sprained ankle and some bruised ribs, nothing of importance really according to her, but the prince had insisted that she needed to relax and take things easy at least until a doctor turned up to patch her up. Again.

"Fionna…" Gumball muttered under his breath, intending to apologize.

"It's all right," Her friend smiled, though it was apparent it was forced, "You wouldn't have known, right? And you said Marshall would live so…" Her voice died in a whisper, not fully sure herself what she wanted to say, "Can I visit him?" She finally asked, her eyes falling on the cat that slept peacefully in the bed beside her, "I want to see him at least for a bit."

There was something in her voice that wouldn't let him deny her request. Sliding his eyes shut, Gumball patiently obliged, "… I suppose that you can, yeah. It's the second room to your right," He informed her, aiding her to keep her feet balanced and on the ground until she could pick up her walking stick.

The human glanced at him in surprise, "Aren't you going to come?"

"No," The candy man shook his head slowly, a small smile in his face, "I need some time for myself right now. In the meanwhile, I'll take care of Cake, okay? Take the time you need."

"If you say so…" Fionna trailed off, sharing with him a fake smile of her own before opening the door from the infirmary, the contraption shutting itself shut behind her back. The seventeen year old girl frowned when she was out of his sight, but nevertheless followed his instructions to a tee, never questioning why he had let her go just like that, being injured as she was. She also was in need to be alone, anyhow.

She needed to see Marshall Lee.

The human girl limped to the door Gumball had indicated and pried it open quite unceremoniously, practically stumbling inside in the process. The motion made her wince imperceptibly, but nonetheless kept going until she plopped herself down the stool next to the vampire. She had to ignore the gadgets around her and the beeping noises that popped about in order to concentrate on her pals' face.

He was somehow alive- in vampire terms anyway- but Marshall had yet to wake up. Fionna knew she had to be patient, but the silence was just killing her. The usual prankster was gone and now all she had left was an empty shell resting on that uncomfortable metal laboratory-bed thingy. Her heart clenched, as if some unknown force had squished it with its invisible hand, before it unexpectedly starting pounding faster and faster and faster-

Tears rolled down her cheeks, the sobs breaking her somehow calm exterior with quivers. Her nose started getting stuffed, its liquid content falling and mixing itself with the water as it feel to the white, cold floor.

"You are an idiot, you know?" She exclaimed loudly, glaring holes into the ceramic whiteness beneath her, "I could just have handle it just fine! I-I wouldn't have mind if it had been me… in-instead of you! But you had to jump in between, didn't you?"

Her heart beat oh-so-loudly, emotions getting the best of her.

"You are an idiot, Marshall Lee! You shouldn't had done that! But you did it anyway! It was my fight, moron! You shouldn't had intervened! You _shouldn't had intervened_!"

_Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum!_

"If you had stayed there… You wouldn't be li-like this…" Her voice cracked.

"You know, I am not stupid! You are actually close to dying, right? Gumball says you are fine, but who is he kidding, right? You got _stabbed!_ Right in the heart, _right_?!"

Red… They were feeding him red as she yelled at the motionless body. How in Glob's name did that work? The color passing to his veins through the needles the doctors had inserted into the vampire's flesh. The result so far had not been so favorable, though. If it had been working properly by now his body would have shown at least some improvement, but instead the wounds had barely closed themselves. That meant his supernatural regeneration was not working as efficiently, which in return meant that his chances of survival were actually pretty slim, despite all the assurances coming from Gumball.

"Blood…" _Ba-dum… _Her eyes widened at the realization. The vampire had mentioned that he could suck blood as well as the color red, but the human had never witnessed him committing anything against anyone, much less suck their blood dry. Sure, Marshall had bragged about him killing the innocent so that he could feed, but that was just that, a lie. The guy was really as soft as a marshmallow in the bottom of his heart when you actually got to know him. He had grown to be an irreplaceable friend now. The pain would be too much if her fellow in crime died on her now.

And that's why she was willing to do this.

Eyes narrowed, she reached out for her shrunk sword (which Gumball had failed to take away from her) from her pocket and in a swift moment ordered it to go into its original size, blade obliging immediately to its master.

Fionna had no doubt that this was reckless, but somehow didn't bring herself to care. Maybe she had to blame it to the fact that the fact that his friend had practically sacrificed his life for her, right before her eyes? That she had watched him agonize with her staring at his suffering in her helplessness? She bet that by now she was traumatized and that alone was impelling her to do this. For whatever reason, she was doing it. The reason did not matter. She was doing it no matter what. The human girl swore that his skin shade had gone even paler now, making her resolve solidify itself even more.

By now her heart pumped erratically in her chest, the pace going up as she sliced her wrist carefully, the girl grimacing at the sudden surge of pain. Soon enough, her blood was dripping into the floor, free of her carnal cage. More tears escaped her despite her efforts.

"This better make you feel better," She muttered, not hesitating to bring her bleeding wrist to his parted mouth, fangs scratching her skin at the touch.

Nothing. No reaction.

"Come on… Come on…" Fionna irritably murmured, bringing her wrist even deeper into his mouth.

Unbeknownst to her, Marshall's hand twitched for a moment before falling limply back in its place. Such reaction multiplied itself even more to such extent that the human girl exhaled in relief, watching as his eyes struggled to open themselves.

"It's working…" She mumbled, heart slowing down considerably. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a pleased facial expression, "I knew that this would work!"

But she should have also known that the vampire was _famished_. The longer she allowed her blood to flow into him, the more powerful was his desire to devour the source of such delicious source. Yes, his regenerative abilities were awaken once more, working in a readily pace, but things wouldn't turn out so well for the seventeen-year-old.

Before she could know what was happening, the Vampire King took hold of her wrist forcefully, painfully so as he penetrated her skin with his sharpened fangs. His eyes did not open, even after he straightened in his metal bed. Soon he was moaning in ecstasy as he felt Fionna's blood go down his throat.

The blonde's eyes went wide when she heard him groan in pleasure, unsure how to react to that and at the same time mindful of the newfound haziness growing in her head.

"Marshall?" Fionna asked timidly, watching horrified as her friend ravened on her blood, panting and moaning. "Are-Are you okay…?"

The vampire growled lowly when she tried to retrieve her arm, his body shifting possessively before piercing her anew in retaliation for her defiance.

And that's when Fionna knew that shit was about to go down.

"Marshall, it's me, remember?! You need to stop drinking!" The human shrieked, feeling how her life source was being sucked at an incredible speed, "I can't continue feeding you like this!"

The sword laid out of reach (and even if she had it, what good would the weapon bring now? She was trying to revive her friend, not _murdering_ him _herself_) and her hand was trapped beyond expectation, but she also had one hand free and that was enough to punch him into his senses, which was what she did. With all her force.

Now, she was considerably weakened by the loss of blood and her recent injuries, but he was also fragile despite all so the force was enough to knock him out of his bed. The motion left her breathless, sweat continuously dripping from her because of the rush of adrenaline.

The human hesitantly rose from her stool, bypassing the bed between them with cautious, hesitant steps, paying no mind to the dull ache in her ankle nor the white spots in her vision as she advanced.

The Vampire King was attempting to stand up, but failing to do so. Needless to say, it was the hole in his chest what was restraining his movements, his body plopping back to the floor when his abdomen didn't flex like it was supposed to do it. Despite his clumsiness, a low growl alerted Fionna that he had indeed noticed her presence again and his movements started to be more frenetic and radical, his form twisting insistently in order to reach her.

His eyes were pitch black with the red demonic glint in their center.

"Marshall…" Fionna uttered drowsily, bringing a hand to her forehead. Her vision started failing her- making her go momentarily blind and the next she knew she had begun to fall forward, head colliding first thing against the vampire's skull.

* * *

_Author's note:_

_I am, like, **obssessed** with these two even though I practically know nothing about Adventure Time with Finn and Jake. I was reading fanfiction about these two and I suddenly thought that staring one myself would be kinda cool *shrugs* Haha... The things I do to make me feel occupied ^^;_

_Well, let's see... I am here to discuss the plot, I guess? Hehe~ Well, if you had to guess, what would happen next, huh? I won't say anything just now ;D I look forward to what other people think. ... I hope people do review, though. Because if there aren't comments then I will feel like an airhead -_- Happens often, believe me._

**_Please review and share your love, okay? I need people to assure me that I am doing all right and stuff._**_ I am new in this part of Fanfiction (stuck in the Hetalia part until recently) and I almost don't know anything about the show... Not a good start, if you ask me... _

_See ya guys later,_

_Nieddu_


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